


Whumptober 2020 - No.9 For The Greater Good

by Jakkuor



Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: also! kassandra's first bupy with the party, ive aptly named the big bad boi fuck hands mcmike, one of our earlier dnd sessions with the group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26957158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakkuor/pseuds/Jakkuor
Summary: this takes place prior to day 3/4 as Ilith's player didn't join us till a few months ago which is why she is regrettably not presentenjoy!
Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948606
Kudos: 3
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Whumptober 2020 - No.9 For The Greater Good

**Author's Note:**

> this takes place prior to day 3/4 as Ilith's player didn't join us till a few months ago which is why she is regrettably not present  
> enjoy!

Kassandra casts a glance around the area. The dome is strange - well, this  _ whole  _ place has been strange. Near endless halls and stairways, giant pendulums, and the entire space seemed warped, somehow. It’s been super confusing to get through, but she's pretty certain they’ve found some end to the place. They’re in a massive dome built on top of a large gear. It’s spinning but they aren’t rotating with it. There must be a layer of glass in between. There’s many more gears too, vertical and spinning at their own paces. Scattered fragments of stone, piles of blue cloth, and old bloodstains litter the floor. Not exactly a comforting sight. 

At one edge of the room, there’s a black totem embedded into the gear. A deep red glow shines from beneath it, beating to some unheard rhythm. It’s smooth and has rectangular features. The bottom is thick, but gets thinner and thinner at the top. In front of it is a tilted slab of stone - the same color as the totem.

“What do you think it is, Hafnear?” she defers to the tiefling, their resident mage, when it comes to magic stuff. Her realm of expertise lies in swinging big swords, so she’s not exactly helpful here.

“Not sure,” Hafnear murmurs, running one hand along the totem. He peers in close at the tilted slab.

“Oh! I have an idea!” Pelwe announces.

Kass glances at them quizzically, but shrugs. She was pretty sure that their knowledge of the arcane was only a little more tha hers, but they  _ were  _ full of surprises.

The tiefling gestures towards the stone, “Go for it.”

Pelwe pulls out the lightning wand they picked up from one of the murder trees in the last room. As they take aim at the totem, Kassandra realizes what they’re doing a split second too late.

She reaches out, “Pelwe, wait-”

Energy crackles in the air, and the hair on the back of her neck stands on end. There’s a strange metallic taste in her mouth and her skin is tingling. A huge bolt of lightning explodes out the end of the wand and hits the totem, the sheer force of the blast knocking Pelwe back a good foot or two.

And, aside from that, nothing happens.

“Are you okay?” Hafnear hurries to the deidau’s side. 

“Yer darn tootin’ I am!” Pelwe picks themself up off the ground, brushing off their coat. “Oh, nothing happened? Maybe another-”  
“No!” Kassandra and Hafnear shout in unison, both frantically shaking their heads.

“Fine, fine…” Pelwe reluctantly puts away the wand. “Now what?”

“Actually, I think I found something.” The tiefling approaches the totem again, running his fingers along the tilted slab.

“What  _ exactly  _ were you trying to do there?” Kass crosses her arms, looking to Pelwe. Their fur is all puffed up from the lightning and they’re smoothing it back down with their paws.

“Dunno. Thought hitting magic thing with another magic thing might make something happen.”

“Fair enough.” She can hardly fault them for that, considering she would’ve made the exact same plan.

There is a loud rumble, and the totem begins to float. Segments of it extend out and start spinning.

“Hafnear, what did you do?!”

“Nothing, I just-”

A huge red fire shoots out of the top of the totem up into the sky, shattering part of the dome. Kassandra curses under her breath, shielding her face with one arm. The totem then seems to shut off, the fire dies and it crashes back into the ground, the gear shaking from the impact.

Hafnear is putting his amulet back on, tucking it into his robe. He looks sheepish, “There was a little indent in it, and it looked like my amulet might fit, so…” 

“Well, looks like you broke it.”  
“Yeah…”

Both Pelwe and Kassandra perk up. There’s something moving beneath them. They can both hear it shifting. Kass’ hand strays to her longsword and she backs towards the door.

A massive hand grabs onto the edge of the dome. The best way to describe it is a revolting monstrosity; it’s made of bone and rotting muscle and scraps of bronze metal, not unlike the gears beneath the party’s feet. More gears and chains hang from and pierce the discolored bone. The three of them can only watch in horror as another arm, equally as twisted and horrible, slams into the dome, cracking the glass. Kassandra notices it has  _ three  _ elbows, each bending in different directions. As it climbs, a face appears. It’s skeletal, and in the same condition as the arms, but elongated and twisted. There are two gaping holes where its eyes should be, pitch black and bottomless. Its mouth sits open in a way that just shouldn’t be possible, the lower jaw disconnected from the upper, hanging on by bits of muscle and chains. Beyond its maw is an impossibly long hallway of bronze gears that strain to spin against a mass of chains that are tangled in them. 

Kassandra doesn’t scare easily. She’s faced a number of foes - assassins, dire wolves, and some strange constructs - without even blinking. But this? This is something she could’ve gone her whole life without seeing. Her legs feel like they’ve turned to jelly and all she wants to do is  _ run _ but she just can’t bring herself to move.

_ “Ah, visitors?”  _ With each word it speaks, the gears creak and the metal crunches. Kassandra’s blood goes cold and shudders crawl up and down her spine.  _ “Welcome. It has been too long since we’ve had… real friends. What have you… brought?” _

Kassandra’s mind is screaming at her to run, but all she can do is stare at this…  _ thing  _ with wide eyes and jaw agape. What the fuck is it? Follow-up question; what the fuck  _ was  _ it? It’s clearly decomposed, so it must’ve been something else at some point but, gods, she doesn’t want to know.

“Well, uhhh, lemme see here…” Pelwe rifles through their coat.

Kass isn’t even sure what she could possibly offer to this thing. She hasn’t got a whole lot of gold, though she has the feeling it probably doesn’t need any considering where it lives. She also has a few magical items on hand that it might like. Now, if she could just bring herself to  _ move _ …

“I got this here book!” The deidau whips out the book on dragons they bought some time ago. “It’s got pictures!” They flip it open to a random page and pull on one of the flaps, making a colorful drawing of a dragon pop out.

The thing seems uninterested.  _ “What… else?”  _ it asks, looking to Kassandra and Hafnear. 

The tiefling stammers something incoherent under its gaze. Then, it seems to notice the totem for the first time.

**_“Thieves!”_ ** it bellows, hands digging into the dome. The glass cracks under the pressure.  _ “You dare come to my home… and steal?!”  _

As the dome begins to shatter, Kassandra finally manages to get herself in gear.

“Fucking  _ run!”  _ she hollers, turning on her heel and bolting, grabbing Pelwe by the back of the coat as she passes them. Hafnear is on her heels.

They sprint out of the room and up the cliff, barely pausing when the gravity around them shifts. There’s no time for stopping, not when that thing is going to be right on their tails. As Kassandra runs, Pelwe has climbed up onto her shoulder and clipped themself to her armor.

“I’ve got an idea!” they yell, barely audible over the screeching from behind. The monstrosity is using the stairs and hallways to drag itself after them. Thanks to its size, it’s easily gaining.

Pelwe pulls out the lightning wand. Kassandra’s hair stands on end when it charges up, and there’s that tingle in the air again as it fires off another huge bolt of lightning, hitting the thing right in the face. It yells, and seems to be stunned for a moment before shaking it off and continuing to follow.

“Nice work! Keep hitting it!” Kass yells. 

“Okay!”

Hafnear’s starting to fall behind. Kassandra scoops him up around the waist and throws him over her other shoulder with ease. He’s much lighter than she realized. Carrying him and Pelwe barely hinders her, even as she has to leap across sections of stairs and broken hallways. The deidau continues to blast the monstrosity with the lightning wand, stunning it every few seconds.

“Make sure to save a couple charges!” Hafnear has to shout to be heard over the crashing and screeching “We might need them if it manages to catch up!”

This place is starting to fall apart. The thing behind them is tearing it apart, its massive frame destroying walkways and stairs behind them. It’s grabbing and pulling down any pendulum it can get its hands on. The way ahead is changing too, thanks to its destruction. Kassandra didn’t have the directions memorized by any means, but it’s  _ definitely  _ different from when they came in. She only hopes they’re headed the right way. Well, any way that takes them away from whatever they stumbled upon is going to be the right one.

Soon, they come to an area that’s totally disconnected from the rest of the pathway above them.

“Shit,” Kassandra frantically looks around for a way up, but there’s nothing. And the monstrosity is still hot on their trail. She sets Hafnear down, “Okay, we gotta figure something out,  _ fast. _ ”

“You could throw Pelwe up there. Then they could tie the rope to something, and we could climb up,” the tiefling suggests.

“Oh! Yeah, that would work.” She looks to the deidau, who nods. They unclip from her armor and pass the wand to Hafear.

Kass takes them off her shoulder after double checking the rope is still securely tied to the both of them. She plants her feet firmly on the ground, doing her best to ignore how close the crashing is getting, and throws Pelwe as hard as she can in the air.

They thankfully make it to the platform above them and hurry to find something to attach the rope to. Hafnear throws another blast of lightning at the thing. It’s getting close. Much too close for Kassandra’s comfort.

“Pelwe?” she calls.

“Got it! You two can climb now!”

“Okay. You first, Hafnear.”

He nods, passes her the wand, and begins to climb. She keeps half an eye on his progress, gripping wand so tightly her knuckles ache. It’s got one charge left, so she’d rather save it. 

_ He’s too slow. We’re not going to make it out… _

Kass tucks the wand away and starts her ascent, scaling the rope as quickly as she can. She has a choice to make. She can get them out safely and quickly. But to do that, she’ll have to reveal what she really is to them. Will they still trust her if they find out?

The beast within stirs, eager. It’s been a long time since she’s transformed of her own volition. She hasn’t wanted to, not since… No. Not the time to think about that. She has to stay here in the present, and help her friends.

Kassandra takes a deep breath, and focuses as hard as she can on  _ escaping.  _ As long as she has something to concentrate on, a goal of some kind, she can keep her head on. The all too familiar prickle of fur creeps up her arm and her bones begin to crack and shift.

A howl escapes her as the transformation completes. She scales the rope with ease, grabbing Hafnear with one hand. He yelps something, but holds onto her tightly as she climbs.

She digs her claws into the stone floor, pulling them up onto the platform. She catches sight of Pelwe.  _ Prey! _

_ No. Friend. Focus. _

She snatches up Pelwe as well, making sure both of them are settled on her back before getting down on all fours and sprinting. Leaping and climbing is so much easier with claws.

It’s been such a long time since she’s done this. She forgot how exhilarating it could be; the adrenaline pounding through her veins, the breeze rushing through her fur.  _ Why did I stop in the first place? _

They are getting close to the exit. Freedom is so close, Kass can practically smell it. But she can hear more screeching and shifting.

She looks up, only to find  _ another  _ monstrosity above them. It’s the exact same as the first, moving in the same twisted, wrong way. She might’ve stopped dead if she hadn’t transformed. But she pushes on, she’s  _ going  _ to get them all out.

The portal’s just ahead! She leaps through, and slams into the wooden wall of the ship as they exit. 

Hafnear and Pelwe are both panicking, both frantically closing up the puzzle box, as Kassandra turns back. She can smell their fear, hear their hearts racing even as the fur melts away and her bones shift back into place.

The two of them disappear above deck, and she follows, lagging behind a distance. She isn’t sure if they were panicking because of what they just ran from, or if it was because of her. She silently prays it’s because of the monstrosities - she doesn’t want to lose them. They’ve bonded over the course of some strange adventures and… If she’s really honest with herself, she’s tired of being lonely. It had been a year since she’s been around people, and these two are the first she’s travelled with. She’s not quite ready to go back to being on her own.


End file.
